Italy's Mondo Home Entertainment Ups Theatrical Plans

Ambitions follow acquisition of Moviemax Italia shares.

LONDON – Italy’s theatrical distribution label Moviemax Italia aims to be bigger and bolder after being fully acquired by existing minority stake holder Mondo Home Entertainment.

The deal sees Mondo Home Entertainment, which dipped its toes into the theatrical distribution arena back in 2005, set its stall out in theatrical acquisition.

Moviemax is one of Italy’s big five distributors with Hollywood genre fair such as Scream 4 and Saw 3D: The Final Chapter scaring up places on its release slate.

Mondo Home Entertainment plumped north of €3 million ($5 million) on the table to purchase the remaining 49 percent stake in Moviemax it did not own from two other minority share holders RG Holding and Finanziaria Cinema, which each held a 24.5 percent interest.

A spokesperson said the company, headed by Mondo Home Entertainment CEO Guglielmo Marchetti, would now look to integrate operations and up theatrical releasing activities to match its already extensive ops in home entertainment and television channel sales memos.

Local movies and international co-productions are also on the horizon for Moviemax’s new owners.

Marchetti said the fresh ambitions and deal make sense from an economic and strategic point of view.

“Finally, we are able to set free all our ideas and use all the energies we have at our disposal to consolidate our traditional activities, and get ready to seize new opportunities. We are working on a new business plan, that we’ll shortly present to the markets,” he said.